How State Incentive Programs Could Change What Outdoor Lawn Equipment People Buy

When you rely on gas-powered mowers and hedge trimmers, certain landscaping tasks can quickly become both noisy and expensive. Along with the potential for annoying your neighbors if you get started too early on a Saturday morning, there's mounting evidence that they contribute to air pollution and can disrupt wildlife. Love it or hate it, yard work is one never-ending maintenance task that's a lot easier when you have the right tools. In recent years, advances in battery power have revolutionized outdoor power tools. Several states including California, Utah, and Vermont are focused on helping homeowners go green by offering incentive programs that give rebates and vouchers towards electric push mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, and trimmers, changing what outdoor lawn equipment people buy.

Although the incentive programs vary from state to state, and may be limited to residents who live in certain municipalities, there are a wide variety of options worth considering if you want to whip your yard into shape with a new electric tool. In addition to being quieter and cleaner for the environment, the battery-operated or mains plug-in tools covered under these incentive programs are often lighter weight, easier to maneuver, and require less maintenance than their gas-powered counterparts. Since you don't have to refuel them, it also means yard work is likely to take less time and money. You'll want to check the specific eligibility requirements before making the investment. Your local utility company will be an excellent resource while researching what programs are available in your area.

Popular companies like Ryobi manufacture tools that will make work in your home and garden a breeze, but most incentive programs aren't brand specific. For example, in Utah, the Charge Your Yard program offered residents in counties with higher pollution $100 vouchers for any new electric string trimmer or leaf blower from select stores including Lowe's, Home Depot, and Ace Hardware. Those who recycled a gas-powered tool got double the refund. Available on a first-come, first-served basis, the program was so popular that funding ran out less than a month after applications opened. It pays to be first in line, and the website states that residents should sign up to hear about any future incentive programs.

California is another state that's serious about changing what outdoor lawn equipment people buy. In 2021, the legislature passed Assembly Bill 1346, which essentially banned the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment. To help residents transition to electric tools, programs like the Clean Green Yard Machines Residential Rebate Program provide up to $50 for new edgers, trimmers, chainsaws, and pole saws, and up to $500 for new electric lawn mowers in certain areas. Another year-round program, the Electric Lawn Mower Rebate Program, provides rebates of up to $250 toward the purchase of new cordless equipment if residents turn in their old gasoline-powered tools for permanent destruction.

Across the country, Vermont was the first state to create a statewide energy efficiency utility. According to Efficiency Vermont, it has "reduced millions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the last twenty years." Several programs have contributed to this effort. But a wide range of lawn care rebates, including one of up to $2,500 for commercial lawn mowers, certainly help make the grass greener for residents of the Green Mountain State.